Helsinki was the first destination on our trip that we did not either arrive or depart by train. Instead our arrival was by boat on a massive Silja Line ferry which had 13 levels. It was more like a mix between a hotel and a large shopping complex. We had originally thought our trip on the ferry was covered by a rail pass, but this was only if we slept in separate male and female dorms! Taking the cheapest cabin we could find put us in this little tiny space on level 2 below the car levels. Needless to say we [View Full Entry]

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As mentioned previously there was only one train to Stockholm from Oslo on the Sunday which wasn't due to arrive into Stockholm until 10:05pm. It involved a 6 hour train trip which was our longest so far. We were concerned that the late arrival might be a problem for our host so we rang them to give them a heads up. After boarding the train we heard an announcement that there had been a major incident at some location along the track and that we would need to transfer into buses to get through this section. Whilst all the announcements were [View Full Entry]

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Oslo had quite a large main station which seemed to be housed in a number of separate wings, one of which included a shopping mall whilst others included cafes and various eateries. There was also a direct connection to the metro which we took to the Bed and Breakfast we were staying at out in the suburbs near a forest. We bought a 24 hour public transport ticket in Oslo which entitled us to free travel on the metro, trams, ferrys and buses for a full 24 hours. It was better than Melbourne's day tickets which expire at 3am the next [View Full Entry]

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For some reason our train to Gothenburg terminated one station before the main terminal which meant we all had to transfer into buses for the last 15 minutes into the town centre. Once in Gothenberg we walked to what we thought was going to be a hotel but turned out to be a hotel on a boat! It looked a bit strange from the outside, but didn't really seem any different on the inside. We only had the one night in Gothenburg so we didn't really have that much time to look around. However Ross was impressed that there appeared to [View Full Entry]

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The train trip across to Copenhagen involved something unusual - the whole train boarded a ferry and made the crossing from Germany into Denmark then left the ferry and continued on its way to Copenhagen. The train sits in the cargo deck of the ferry along with all the other cars which we found looked kind of strange. In Copenhagen itself we were staying in what we thought was going to be a bed and breakfast but turned out just to be a room in someone's house where we had to share their bathroom and kitchen. Instead of being greeted by [View Full Entry]

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The trip to Hamburg involved our first experience travelling on a high speed train. In this case we were travelling on a high speed ICE train. The person at Heidelberg station recommended we book a seat as it might be full. We did this and ended up with our own 6 seat compartment to ourselves as the train wasn't full at all. Kerrie liked this as it meant she could not only listen to the Ipod but sing to the music as well. (The experience was therefore not quite so good for Ross.) Hamburg had probably the most impressive railway station [View Full Entry]

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The trip from Luxemburg to Heidelberg was our most complex train journey so far. There was no direct train service between the two cities so Kerrie had to search our rail timetable to find what she thought was three connecting trains (but turned out to be four) in order to get to Heidelberg on time. First it was a train that went briefly into France to a place called Metz. Then it was a train from Metz to a Saarbrucken just across the German border. This train consisted of only a single carriage and was quite full. Then a further change [View Full Entry]

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We left Brussels in the late morning and took a 3 hour train trip to Luxembourg, the 3rd country of our visit. We didn't have to go far to our hotel after arriving as it was located directly opposite the station with a great view of the station buliding much to Ross's delight. After we had unpacked our stuff we walked in towards the main centre of old Luxembourg, located on the top of a hill after crossing a deep gorge. Unlike the other cities where we stayed there are no trams in Luxembourg and we could really notice the difference [View Full Entry]

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After arriving in Brussels the previous night, we headed out to Bruges for the day. We caught the train out (along with nearly eveyone else in Europe it seemed!) and after about an hour made it to our destination. Bruges is a very touristy, crowded and expensive city - but beautiful nonetheless. It is apparently one of Europe's best preserved examples of a medieval city. Again, it is a city with a big square (grote markt) overlooked by the town hall and guildhouses. It seems like lots of European cities have large pedestrianised squares with adjacent cafes that place tables and [View Full Entry]

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Today we moved on to our second country, Belgium. After a wet evening the previous day in Rotterdam, the rain eased up in the morning and gave us a chance to look around Rotterdam where we went down to the waterfront. In the early afternoon it was time to leave Rotterdam and the Netherlands and catch our first international train into Belgium. Unlike all the internal Netherlands trains this one was packed and we couldn't get a seat despite the train being something like 12 carriages long. We ended up having to sit with our bags in the doorway for [View Full Entry]

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